Midgar Fairy Tales
by redcherryamber
Summary: Fantasy randomness. Reno as Little Red, Tseng as a Big, Bad Wolf, Kadaj as Cinderella and Sephiroth as the prince. Oh - and Rufus Shinra as the fairy Godfather. Just an experiment - please let me know what you think!
1. Chapter 1

**This story is a bit random. For some reason I was wondering what fairy stories in Gaia would be like - given that it seems to be a world like ours, but often like the darker bits of ours...**

**And I read an article that was talking about how dark the original versions of these stories were. Not at all Disney!**

**So - the first one is a version of _Little Red Riding Hood_. No prizes for guessing who Little Red is, yo! **

**Also featuring the lovely Tseng, as the Big Bad Wolf.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the FFVII boys, or the original Little Red and Wolf!**

**R&R, please.**

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Midgar Fairy Tales

Little Red

Not once upon on time, but right now, right on cue…here comes Little Red, cocky as ever, and never showing fear. These deep dark alleys hold few terrors for him, slum-raised kid that he is. It's the wolves in this neck of the woods should be afraid of _him_, yo!

Where's he going? Not to see his granny, that's for sure, even if he knew of someone he could call by that name. No – he may be only sixteen - but Little Red has deals to do, people to meet. He already knows how to survive here – has known for years. So who's looking out for him? No-one. Parents, long gone. Ma's warnings long outgrown. Little Red trusts Little Red, and no-one else, yo!

But today, here in the daytime twilight below the plate, there's something new. A long, black car slides through these decaying streets, slick as oil and darkly gleaming. The inhabitants of the underworld eye it sideways, snarling slightly, or shaking their heads, disguising envy and fear with cool defiance. An old man, out of his mind on … something … spits into the gutter as the car slips by. Some kid, too young to have learned to pretend not to care, looks up, wide-eyed, and whistles.

Little Red smiles to himself, eyes fixed on the cracked sidewalk. No way anyone behind that smoked glass is catching him looking. Never gonna catch _him_!

But the car stops.

Little Red pauses, just like he was always planning to, yo, and lights a cigarette. Not like he's interested. Not like he _cares_. He's balanced on the balls of his feet though, just in case he needs to run - but you'd never know it looking at his sloping shoulders, his boneless stance.

He looks up as the car door opens. His blue-green eyes give away nothing, and if his heartbeat quickens who's ever gonna know but him?

The man who gets out of the car is an alien creature in these parts of Midgar: cooler, sharper, and possessed of more genuine self-confidence than any of these slum-dwellers could ever pretend to be.

Little Red's not admitting that, though – just looks him up and down: takes a drag on his cigarette, exhales a smokescreen. He doesn't even flinch when the man steps forward to hand him a card, with absolutely no flourish, and he registers the Shin-Ra logo.

Little Red says nothing, just considers the card in his hand: ponders the open door it represents. The Shin-Ra Turk waits, patient, unsmiling. He seems completely relaxed, but when Little Red eventually looks up at him the Turk's dark eyes glitter – cold and predatory.

All the better to see right through you.

Little Red is nervous now, but he will never show it. He shrugs, inhales more smoke. After he judges that his point has been made, he drawls, "So…What's the deal?"

The Shin-Ra Turk gestures to the card Little Red is holding. When he speaks his voice is low, the tone seductively respectful.

All the better to tell you lies: the best lies – those that are concealed in truths.

"It's an offer," he says. "We've been keeping an eye on you. We like the way you operate."

"So," replies Little Red, scenting a chance, mixed in with the too-familiar stench of danger, "As I said before - what's the deal?"

The Shin-Ra Turk smiles. Little Red is sharp, but the Turk's white teeth are sharper.

All the better to tear you apart.

And then who will put you back together?

"We'd like you to work for us," the Turk says. He names a salary so high it makes Little Red's mouth water. But he's still wary.

"What kind of work?"

"Your kind. Theft, kidnapping, espionage…assassinations."

"If I say no?"

It's the Turk's turn to shrug, but he does it elegantly. "No-one alive today has ever said no."

Little Red knows a threat when he hears one. He laughs, almost hiding his fear. "How long do I get to decide, yo?"

"I'd prefer it if you would come with me now, actually," the Turk replies - as if this were a perfectly reasonable request.

Little Red looks at the open door of the car. He knows there isn't a choice. The Turk stands to one side, smiling slightly. Little Red takes a last drag on his cigarette, drops it on the ground, grinds the butt into the dirty concrete with the heel of his boot.

"Welcome to Shin-Ra," says the Turk.

Little Red ducks through the door and the long, black car swallows him whole.

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Here comes Little Red, cocky as Hell and afraid of nothing. These deep dark alleys hold no terrors for him – slum-raised kid that he was: trained assassin that he is.

He's changed since he was here in the slums last. Two red tattoos slash across his cheekbones like the marks of claws. Shin-Ra tore him to pieces, as he knew it would, and put him back together. Now he's a much more effective kind of monster.

Little Red grins.

The everyday wolves in this neck of the woods are _terrified_ of him, yo.

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**Thanks for reading.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Midgar fairytales number two: Cinderella this time. **

**Featuring Kadaj as Cinders, Yazoo and Loz as the not-at-all ugly siblings, Rufus Shinra as the fairy Godfather, Sephiroth as the handsome prince, Reno and Rude as the mice, Jenova as the magic and Cloud as himself.**

**I know this is random, but please R&R.**

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**Glass and Ashes**

Once upon a time, far to the North, there were _not_ three beautiful brothers with hair the colour of ashes or moonlight, and strange, emerald eyes.

Then, quite suddenly, there _were_.

That's the way the magic works, sometimes.

The three brothers knew that they were descended from an ancient line, but their mother had been taken from them before they really knew her, and they were lost in the world with only each other for company.

Strangely, although he was the youngest, it was little Kadaj who seemed to remember her best. Sometimes he would grow silent and still as though he had fallen into a dream, and when he came back to himself he would tell his brothers that mother had been speaking to him. Loz, the eldest brother, would often cry then, because he could hardly remember mother at all. Yazoo showed less emotion, but he felt the loss as deeply as his older brother, and couldn't help feeling jealous of Kadaj.

Still, the older brothers loved Kadaj, and wanted to protect him. But he was difficult at times – oh yes he was! He knew that mother had been taken from them, and he was determined to get her back. When they found her, he told his brothers - when they were all reunited – everything would make sense. Then there would be a great celebration and they would all live happily ever after.

But until that day, they would have to work to find mother. And that would be hard. Loz and Yazoo would have to do as he told them, because he was the one who understood what mother wanted. Sometimes he would fly into a temper, when things weren't going well. Sometimes he would yell at his older brothers: "You always leave everything to me! I have to do all the work, all the time!" And this was really quite unfair, because actually it was Kadaj who treated his brothers like servants, but if they tried to protest his voice would grow soft and reasonable again, and he would say, "But we're all working for the same thing. We're all mother's servants, aren't we?" Then Loz and Yazoo remembered how much they loved him, and felt ashamed of themselves, and did as he told them to do.

The three brothers rode far and wide throughout the land, searching for their mother, until at last they came to the ruined city of Midgar and its new sister-city of Edge.

Kadaj knew that time was running out.

Invitations had been sent out, calling people throughout the land to come to the great celebration. But without mother, how could there be a celebration?

Kadaj told his brothers that they must redouble their efforts. A great hero would be appearing at the celebration, he said, who would achieve everything mother desired. And this hero needed someone to make him whole.

Yazoo and Loz looked at each other. They knew what Kadaj was thinking, and they were afraid for him.

To tell the truth, Kadaj was a little afraid too. He longed to be reunited with mother, and he longed to be the one chosen by the hero, but he wasn't sure what that would mean. Mother was strangely silent on that subject.

Beautiful Kadaj and his two equally beautiful brothers worked harder than ever to find their mother before it was too late. Eventually their efforts were rewarded, and Kadaj found himself standing on a high tower, facing a softly-spoken young man, dressed all in white. He had received the invitation to the celebration – Kadaj could see that by the disease marking the man's pale skin, the controlled pain in his voice, the wheelchair.

Kadaj was certain that this man – Rufus Shinra – knew where mother was. But for all his threats, and displays of power, and tears, the man would tell him nothing.

And time was running out.

Then quite suddenly Rufus Shinra stood: revealed himself not as a helpless invalid, but as a being of great cunning and power. All that remained of mother's essence he held in his hand, sealed in a box. He'd known where mother was all along! And his words were terrible: "You will not go to the reunion! You have failed your mother." Coldly, Rufus Shinra threw the box from the tower.

What made it worse was his smile.

Kadaj gave a cry of rage and despair, because there was nothing else in the whole world that he wanted except for the reunion. His anger and pain burst out of him in a blaze of magical power that knocked Rufus Shinra off the tower. Kadaj leapt into empty air, careless of everything but the falling box. If it hit the ground, it would shatter like glass.

Falling, falling, and time running out.

Rufus was shooting now, trying to destroy mother, trying to stop the reunion. Well, he would die trying.

Below him, Kadaj saw his brothers fighting with Rufus Shinra's creatures – servants, insignificant as rats or mice.

Mother's magic was stronger than Shinra's power, and Kadaj landed lightly on his feet. He would reach the reunion and join with the hero, no matter what forces tried to stop him.

Kadaj rode as swiftly as the wind, his two brothers behind him fighting to keep Shinra's creatures away, but he was pursued now by someone he knew – someone powerful, like himself. Another one of mother's children, Cloud Strife. Why was he trying to prevent the reunion? Didn't he want to be happy, with mother?

Time, running out so fast!

The golden-haired man – Cloud - did all in his power to keep Kadaj from reaching the reunion, but Kadaj knew the steps of this dance better than anyone, and in the end there was nothing in the world that could stop him.

Oh, the magic was powerful! Kadaj felt himself transformed! The hero was there, and he was just as strong and beautiful as mother had promised – a silver angel – a dark-winged demon. Kadaj had no choice but to surrender himself completely.

And he was willing…willing…But it was cruel, none-the-less. Kadaj felt himself fragment as the hero stepped lightly into his body and possessed his soul.

When he came back to himself, the hero was gone. Cloud caught Kadaj's broken body as he fell.

The reunion was over.

Time had run out, and the magic was coming undone.

Kadaj was coming undone.

But somehow, it didn't matter any more. It seemed that Kadaj and his brothers had got it all wrong, about mother, and the hero and reunion. There was only supposed to be this dissolution in the gently falling rain, and peace, ever after.

Cloud watched as Kadaj's soul scattered into the air like wind-blown ashes - like glass, shattering slowly.

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**Thanks for reading.**


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